Fjólublá Liljur
by vvheel
Summary: The most profound thing you can do for someone is teach them how to love themselves. IceLiech. Human/Modern AU.


******Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.**

******Inspiration: "Wash Away" by Matt Costa**

******Rating: Strong M for major sexual/adult themes and suicidal thoughts**

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Bridge

"Half-time!" came the voice of a woman standing 10 feet to Elise's right. She obeyed, pressing the keys of the grand piano at half the pace she would normally use. All stress from the woman melted immediately as she gracefully dances across the stage, her feet pointed without flaw.

She knew very well by now how Natalya Arlovskaya liked to push herself during practice. This time, she opted for going slower, keeping her on her toes for longer periods of time. Though Elise wouldn't call her a friend, she knew she would be asked to bandage bruised or bleeding toes later.

An hour with no breaks later, Elise closed her suitcase, packing up her music sheet for the night. She gently closed the covers for the grand piano and draped a dust cover on top of it, smoothing it down. Tucking a strand of light blonde hair behind her ear, she rolled her shoulders, aching from a long day of playing.

Luckily for her, Natalya's half-sister Yekaterina Braginsky, the famous opera singer, was in London for a few days and happily took the job of bandaging up her stoic little sister, freeing Elise for the rest of the afternoon. She rubbed her eyes as she strolled back to her apartment, frowning when she realized she had smeared her mascara. It was only a short walk to the apartment complex, but the humidity after a long spring rain was nearly unbearable. She sighed, wishing she was back in Austria, where her brothers and her could have picnics in the dry mountain air. Snapping out of her thoughts, she gripped her suitcase tightly. She was living her dream and a little homesickness wouldn't be stopping that. Sure she was only working as a piano player in an Arts Academy in London but that was step one to becoming a professional. At least, that was what Roderich assured her. Rarely had he ever let her down before.

She unlocked the door, jingling keys alerting her pet cat to stroll towards her, expecting food. Lila had a purple ribbon tied around her neck and green eyes similar to Elise's. It made her bond with the cat almost immediately upon seeing her at an animal shelter. She locked the door behind her and unlaced her boots, setting them neatly by the door.

Though it was a relatively short day for her, she had a Music Theory test ahead of her and needed to study. Before she did, she really needed a bath to get rid of the sticky feeling the humidity had left on her skin. As she approached the bathroom, she stripped off the elegant brown dress she was wearing, laying it neatly on the bed. Turning her back to the mirror in embarrassment, she unhooked her bra, dropping it on the floor along with her underwear. As the tub filled with warm, bubbly water, Elise gathered her courage to look into the mirror, deciding that she was 24 years old and needed to stop being embarrassed of herself. As predicted, it ended in massive failure, for the second she was faced with her naked self she turned beet red and grabbed the nearest book, flipping through the pages rapidly.

The warm water felt like heaven on her flushed and sweating skin and she sighed in relief. It was silent in her apartment, save for the running air conditioning, and it made her feel very peaceful, though she would have liked to have turned on some classical music first. Oh well, too late for that. She needn't worry about her hair getting wet, as it was barely long enough to touch her shoulders, just as she liked it. She could hear Lila meowing from outside the bathroom door and decided, after a 30-minute soak, that she should go ahead and prepare food for the both of them.

Clad in a pink bathrobe in her small kitchen, Elise squinted at the box of instant noodles. Though she absolutely loved baking cookies and cakes and decorating them, cooking was a whole other thing and not something she was ever good at or enjoyed. She sighed, watching at the microwave counted down until her noodles were cooked and sat on her living room couch, politely eating her noodles as she watched Lila chomp down on her dry cat food rapidly.

She turned on the television, flipping channels until she found the BBC World News network and watched half-heartedly before picking up her cell phone and calling her brother Roderich at his Austrian home. She stopped calling after a few tries with no answer and opted for a study session. The quiet was beginning to make her feel lonely and she played a Mozart CD on her stereo as she studied her notes on Music Theory. Really, Music Theory was something all Music majors hated, but she had grown to appreciate it now that she was in graduate school. It was just a part of the necessary process to becoming a professional.

The CD ended and Elise was left in the silence again. She gripped her notes tightly, a pain in her chest swelling before she grabbed the brown dress she had been wearing earlier and pulled it on, locking the door behind her as she walked at a quick pace into the London evening. She lived in a rather nice part of town and didn't worry about walking at night, but she kept her brother Basch's lessons and a can of pepper spray in her dress pocket just in case.

The air was rapidly becoming cooler with the setting sun and the world had a tint of blue as she strolled along the railings of the Thames. She had thought that maybe she would feel less lonely out on the London streets with crowds, but seeing groups of friends or lovers passing by her only made her feel unhappier. She had never been good at making friends, as she had always been shy and she had little in common with most people, as her interests were mostly very old-fashioned things. In Austria she had been pining to leave the isolation of her loving by overbearing brothers, but she had also been happier in Austria. Roderich had told her that this was how everyone felt at first, but six months later she was starting to believe him less and less.

The crowd thinned with passing time and location until she was practically alone on the street. The closest businesses were either a bit away from her or closing. Every minute or so, a car would pass, but otherwise there was little sound but the moving water of the Thames below her. She stopped suddenly, turning to stare down at the dark water. The railing was low enough for her to bend over slightly to see if she had a reflection. To her disappointment, there wasn't enough light.

A dark, disturbing thought suddenly filled her mind. She wondered how it would feel to jump. Probably not too cold, for winter was long gone, but certainly not warm. She became overwhelmed with curiosity and, perhaps, longing. Cold water would make her feel something other than painful loneliness, she supposed. She felt herself subconsciously lift one foot, her hands pressing against the railing in the dark. Over her own rapid heartbeat and racing thoughts, she didn't notice the steady footsteps behind her, only a sudden gust of wind that pushed a lock of hair into her eyes.

It took what felt like a full minute for her to realize that somebody had just jumped over the railing before she could. When her mind caught up, she gripped the railing suddenly and looked over, seeing nothing but rippling waves and air bubbles in the otherwise dark water. Without a second thought, she pushed herself over, watching in slow motion as the dark water rushed up to meet her. With her adrenaline pumping so fast, she didn't feel the sharp coldness of the water, only panic as she searched for the person who had jumped.

She swam underneath then back up, eyes better adjusted to the dark, and looked around until she spotted a floating figure a few feet away. She quickly swam up to them, thanking herself for choosing to wear a light cotton gown that didn't weigh her down, and wrapped her arms around them. The darkness made it difficult to figure out where the person's head was, but when she did, she quickly swam to the wall of the river, moving down around 10 feet or so until she found a platform with some stairs, used for docking small boats. She pulled herself then the person, surprisingly heavy, onto it and saw in the lamplight that it was a young man, dressed in nice clothing with light, silvery hair.

Remembering her years of training with Basch, she performed CPR on him, blowing air into his lungs then pressing on his chest in a rhythm. Just as she was about to give up, the man turned away from her on his side and violently coughed up water from his lungs. His breathing came back raspy and Elise almost fell over in relief.

It was strange, she thought, that this was the most emotion she had felt in months. It felt a little selfish to be so happy about that while the young man beside her had apparently been aiming to end his own life. After a few moments, his coughing stopped and he lay back down, staring up at the sky as he continued breathing in gasps. Concerned, she leaned over him, checking for signs that he was beginning to breathe normally again.

In these moments neither of them had said a word to each other. His eyes, bright violet, finally opened and looked at her, a confused expression on his face. She momentarily marveled at how uniquely colored they were before it dawned on her how intimately close she was to him and she jerked back, unsure how to proceed.

It was then that he suddenly looked angry as he sat up, clutching his forehead and groaning. He grimaced as he stood up and she had the urge to help him, but lost the courage when she noticed how frustrated he was at being saved. She stood up herself, feeling weighed down in her soaked dress, and followed him as he made his way shakily up the stairs. He combed his fingers through his silvery hair, stumbling down the sidewalk.

"Wait!" she called out, still in shock from what had just happened.

"Kveðjum Prinsessa." he slurred, waving at her without turning back. He continued down the sidewalk and she watched him. She frowned, telling herself that she should go after him while pulling herself in the direction of home and a warm bed. She stayed like this until the man had stumbled out of sight.

Taking a step back, she wanted to cry, feeling ashamed of not making sure he went to the hospital. The words he said to her were burned into her mind. They didn't sound like any language she was familiar with. Well, she was sure she could figure out at least one of the words. Wringing out her dress as she walked, she vowed to herself that between the mindless tasks of school and work, she would find that man again. Hopefully, he was still alive and well when she did.

Three miles and 10 hours later, a silver-haired man of 26 groggily turned over in what surprisingly was his own bed. He blinked for a moment in the morning light and pushed himself up, realizing that he was soaking wet. Immediately his stomach churned and he rushed to the bathroom, vomiting a considerable amount of alcohol.

He clutched his head, sitting down on the bathroom floor and cursing himself to hell. Last night was just supposed to be a break from his Nordic history research and, of course, he ended up somewhere drinking miserably like a weak and angry wretch. Leon would most certainly scold him when he found out.

Just as he was cursed with depression and an affinity to alcohol, he was also cursed with a fantastic memory. He leaned his head against the wall, wondering if he had made up the image of a beautiful blonde woman staring down at him with worry in her eyes.

The soaking wet clothes clued him in on the realness of his late-night swim, but that image in particular seemed like a very wonderful dream until the bitterness of being alive made his temper flare.

He heard his cell phone, left in his apartment, ring loudly and he stood to answer it, pulling off his wet shirt in the process. "Erik, where are you? You're two hours late for the conference and I can't keep stalling for you any longer."

"On my way, Leon." he replied, hanging up before his very flustered friend could reply. Changed completely into a dry set of clothes, he left the apartment, dreading the idea of facing another day of listening to old men babble, but he couldn't shake off the idea that some stranger had found his life worth saving.

Pushing it back and putting on a blank face for now, he decided that he would eventually need to find her, if she was even real.

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**Okay so I decided that I really wanted to do something for the IceLiech community, so here's the beginning of what will become a multichaptered modern AU with lots of mature themes (you've been warned!) and angst. I promise after this chapter the whole suicidal thoughts thing calms down significantly. ****The main inspirations for this chapter are the suicide attempt scene from the Russian film Rusalka and the suicidal thoughts/bridge scene from the book It's Kind Of A Funny Story. ****In case anyone is wondering, Natalya is Belarus, Yekaterina is Ukraine, Roderich is Austria and Elise's adopted brother and so is Basch, or Switzerland.**

**"Fjólublá Liljur" (Icelandic) - Purple Lillies**

**"Kveðjum Prinsessa" (Icelandic) - Farewell, Princess**

**Please review and let me know what you think! Anon replies will be placed down here in bold.**

**- vvheelthewriter**


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